2021 Week 6 - A New Dawn for Fenland Growers, Smallholders and Crafters

A quiet week here in the freezer. Seed sowing is warming up but the freezing conditions, well below zero at night and hardly rising above it during the day, remind me not to get ahead of myself.

So instead of the usual rundown, I'll use this post to talk about our local smallholders club. 

Even before Covid and lockdowns One, Two and Three, clubs of this sort were struggling. More and more is done online these days but that leaves a huge gap in personal contact and practical support. Lockdown has of course exacerbated this. 

Our program of events came to an abrupt halt a year ago, just after I stepped down as Chair and the first lockdown was announced. Clearly despite an excellent club magazine and an active Facebook page this makes it difficult to attract and keep new members.

The club began over 40 years ago as Fenland Goatkeepers Club (FGC). At some stage it added Smallholding into its title to become Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club (FGSC). Then a few years back the specific reference to Goatkeepers was dropped and we became FSC. But times are changing quickly and everyone needs to be prepared to grow and adapt.

So it is that this year we have become Fenland Growers, Smallholders and Crafters (back to FGSC!)

A new logo for a new start

Times may be difficult for individuals and clubs, but major upheaval can sometimes lead to positive change. More and more people are taking up growing their own food. Seed companies have been overwhelmed. During successive lockdowns people have learned to notice nature and to appreciate more simple pleasures in life. This all combines with a massive new enthusiasm for sustainable living as people's knowledge and awareness increases of how we are harming the earth and the steps we can take to start to redress the balance.

A new dawn

We've all had to move online, Zooming is booming! But I have a feeling that at the end of all this we will all appreciate personal contact just a little bit more, even if we have to wear masks to do it.

So we find ourselves in an intriguing position of moving into a more online, virtual future but at the same time learning from the traditions and lifestyles of the past. On top of Covid, but looming large in the background is climate chaos and the havoc that humankind is wreaking on the earth.

So with this new realisation of our vulnerability comes a renewed interest in sustainability.

The renaming of our club reflects a broadening of our horizons to become more relevant. Smallholding still remains at our centre, but there are many, many people who just want to grow a little in their back yard or on their windowsill, who want access to the natural products of smallholding, who want to share traditional skills.

The club is really pushing forward with its structure of different groups operating under its umbrella.

Current areas of interest are Crafting Groups, Preserving and Cooking Groups, Livestock Groups and Growing Groups. In the future lie Men's Sheds and possibly even community smallholdings

Personally my interests come mostly in the growing category. I started the club's very first group, the Grow-Your-Own group, quite a few years ago now. I've handed the reins of that one over to someone else now. So I am looking to try something else. For the beginners in the club I am planning to start Zoom meetings to teach and share the very basics of growing. At the other end of the scale I also want to start a specialist group looking at the sustainable forefront of food growing, permaculture, organic no-dig, forest gardening, that sort of thing.

Hopefully, just hopefully, more club members will start to get involved. There has always been a reluctance to join in or help out but we have an enthusiastic committee now and we are offering free membership for the year to bring in lots of new people.

What we have set up here on the smallholding is I hope an example of sustainable lifestyle. If we can share the skills we have learned through the club then the little difference we make to the world might just be multiplied up a few times.

For those old enough to remember them, we have started growing giant Walnut Whips on the lawn!
This is a major step forwards in becoming self-sufficient :)